MeSH Vocabulary

Last updated July 13, 2011. Created by erikwebb on January 21, 2011.
Edited by safwan. Log in to edit this page.

The MeSH Vocabulary module provides a convenient method to import the large Medical Subject Headings thesaurus and also a modal popup to provide more efficient browsing.

MeSH format

This module makes use of the "MeSH Trees" format. This format allows for a reasonably fast import and preservation of term hierarchy. The XML format more commonly used includes a large amount of superfluous information and, at 260MB in size, not a viable option for a web-based import.

MeSH browser

Using the CTools modal dialog, this module overrides the default taxonomy widget to instead use an AJAX modal browser. All other taxonomies are rendered using the normal widget.

MeSH import process

1. Download the MeSH Trees file from the above site.
2. Navigate to Administer > Taxonomy > MeSH.
3. Select the correct MeSH year (sets the top-level headers).
4. Upload the MeSH Trees file.
5. Save configuration.
6. Click "Populate MeSH vocabulary" to begin the import process.
7. After completion, you may add the MeSH vocabulary to any content type to use.

System Requirements

1. max_allowed_packet is to be set at 16M in my.ini of mysql directory. You need this setting enabled for the import process. After import process (which may take hours) you can reset to the default value
2. Minimum memory required for this module to run is 96MB.